The present disclosure is generally related to gaming methods and apparatus, and in particular to games in which a game outcome is determined based on game outcome data from a finite pool of game play data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,035 to Morris et al., entitled “Video Gaming System With Fixed Pool of Winning Plays and Global Pool Access,” describes a gaming system that includes a central game processor, a plurality of master processing units, and a plurality of slave terminals operable by players to play a game. The central game processor provides pools of game plays to the master processing units. Each pool includes a predetermined number of winning game plays. A player at a slave terminal can purchase a game play, and in response, a master processing unit coupled to the slave terminal retrieves a game play from a pool and sends the game play to the slave terminal. Next, the slave terminal displays a video image of a paper pull-tab lottery ticket being opened to display an outcome of the game play. If the game play corresponds to a winning outcome, the slave terminal credits a corresponding amount to the player.
International Publication No. WO 00/64546, entitled Multi-Level Lottery-Type Gaming Method and Apparatus, describes a lottery-type game system including a game manufacturing computer system connected to a central computer system, which is in turn connected to a plurality of player terminals. The game manufacturing system creates a plurality of game records having a predetermined number of winning game records, and supplies the game records to the central computer system. A player can purchase a first game record via a player terminal, and the first game record is sent to the player terminal. The first game record may be associated with one of four potential outcomes: a losing outcome, an immediate winning outcome, an after draw winning outcome, and a negotiable outcome. After receiving the first game record, the player terminal displays a first level game representation associated with the first game record. The first level game representation is an image of a hand of cards related to a card game such as five card poker.
If the first game record corresponds to an immediate winning outcome, the first level game representation may be an image of a hand of cards such as a straight, a flush, a full house, etc. Then, a prize corresponding to the winning outcome is awarded to the player.
If the first game record corresponds to a losing outcome, the first level game representation displayed by the player terminal may be a hand of cards, such as a pair less than jacks, that indicates no prize is to be awarded. The player may then choose to draw cards via an input device of the player terminal. If the player does draw cards, the first level game representation is modified to show newly drawn cards, but where the new hand of cards also indicates that no prize is to be awarded.
If the first game record corresponds to an after draw winning outcome, the first level game representation may be a hand of cards that appears to be a losing outcome such as a pair less than jacks. The player may then choose to draw cards via an input device of the player terminal. If the player chooses to draw cards, the first level game representation is modified to show newly drawn cards where the new hand of cards indicates that a prize is to be awarded. Then, the prize is awarded to the player.
If the first game record corresponds to a negotiable outcome, the first level game representation may be a hand of cards that appears to be a winning outcome such as a pair of jacks or better, two pair, three of a kind, etc. The player may then choose to draw cards via an input device of the player terminal. If the player chooses to draw cards, a second game record is purchased using the amount that would have been paid based on the outcome associated with the first game record. In response, a second game record is sent to the player terminal.
The second game record may be associated with a second-level winning outcome or a losing outcome. After receiving the second game record, the player terminal displays a second level game representation associated with the second game record. The second level game representation may be a hand of cards including held cards and newly drawn cards that indicate a prize to be awarded. The prize is then provided to the player.
The prize to be awarded may or may not correspond to the second game record. For example, the second game record may correspond to a full house hand of cards, but the player's choice of cards to draw may make a full house hand impossible. If the player's draw selection makes a hand of cards corresponding to a higher prize impossible, the difference between the actual prize awarded and the prize corresponding to the second game record may be put into an “escrow” and subsequently awarded to the player via a “bonus” game.